Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad
Encyclopedia
The New York Tunnel Extension (also New York Improvement and Tunnel Extension), was a major project of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 (PRR) at the beginning of the 20th century, to improve railroad access throughout the greater New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 area. The project comprised tunnels and approaches from New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 to Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...

, leading to the PRR's massive new station, New York Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
Pennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. It is one of the busiest rail stations in the world, and a hub for inbound and outbound railroad traffic in New York City. The New York City Subway system also...

.

History

The PRR had consolidated its control of railroads in New Jersey with the lease of United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company
United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in New Jersey, including their main line to New York City...

 in 1871, thereby extending its rail network from Philadelphia northward to Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...

. Crossing the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

, however, remained a major obstacle. To the east, the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) ended at the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...

. In both situations, passengers had to transfer to ferries
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. This put the PRR at a disadvantage relative to its arch competitor, the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...

, which already served Manhattan.

Early tunnel and bridge proposals

Various plans to cross the Hudson were discussed as early as the 1870s, and both tunnel and bridge projects were considered by the railroads and government officials. A tunnel project for the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, a rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

 line, began in 1874, and encountered serious engineering, financial and legal obstacles. The project was halted in 1880 after a blowout accident that cost 20 lives. Work on the Uptown Hudson Tubes
Uptown Hudson Tubes
The Uptown Hudson Tubes are a pair of tunnels that carry PATH trains under the Hudson River between New York City and Jersey City, New Jersey.On the Manhattan side, the tunnels follow Morton Street and Christopher Street, and the first PATH stop in New York is Christopher Street. The service in...

 continued intermittently but was not completed until 1908. The technology of tunnel-building was still primitive and risky in the 1880s, and this gave impetus to a major bridge design proposal. The bridge would be situated between Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...

 and 23rd Street in Manhattan. However, due to the congested shipping conditions in New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

, the design called for an enormous bridge span that would have been twice that of the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...

. Although Congress granted a charter in 1890 for construction of a bridge, the large project cost would have to be shared by several railroads. Some foundation masonry was laid on the Hoboken side in 1895, but the PRR was unsuccessful in getting other companies to share in the expenses, and the bridge project was abandoned.

Revised plans

The PRR, working with the LIRR, developed several new proposals for improved regional rail access in 1892. They included construction of new tunnels between Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...

 and Manhattan, and possibly a tunnel to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

; new terminals in mid-town Manhattan for both the PRR and LIRR, completion of the Hudson Tubes, and a bridge proposal. These ideas were discussed extensively for several years but did not come to fruition until the turn of the century. In 1901 the PRR took great interest in a new railroad approach just completed in Paris, France, whereby electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...

s were substituted for steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s prior to the final approach to the city. This technique enhanced the prospects for building a tunnel under the Hudson. Additionally, the PRR made plans to acquire majority control of the LIRR, so that one new terminal could be built in Manhattan, rather than two.

The PRR created subsidiaries to manage the project. The Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York Railroad and the Pennsylvania, New York and Long Island Railroad, were the New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 parts, respectively. The PNJ&NY was incorporated February 13, 1902, and the PNY&LI was incorporated April 21, 1902. They were consolidated into the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad (PT&T) on June 26, 1907.

Design and construction

The design and construction aspects of the project were organized into three principal divisions.
  1. Meadows Division. The original PRR route in New Jersey ran to the Exchange Place
    Exchange Place (PRR station)
    The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was the intermodal passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad's vast holdings on the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey. By the 1920s the station was called Exchange Place in response to local nomenclature...

     ferry terminal in Jersey City. The Meadows Division project built a new route from the PRR main line at Harrison, New Jersey
    Harrison, New Jersey
    Harrison is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 13,620. The town is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark, New Jersey.-Geography:Harrison is located at ....

    , northeast to the west end of the new tunnels. This involved constructing a new station at Harrison, Manhattan Transfer
    Manhattan Transfer (PRR station)
    Manhattan Transfer was a passenger station in Harrison, New Jersey, east of Newark, 8.8 miles west of New York Penn Station on the Pennsylvania Railroad main line, now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor...

    , along with a rail yard
    Rail yard
    A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....

    , to provide for changing between steam and electric locomotives. Northeast from this new station the double track
    Double track
    A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...

     line was built on embankment through the Hackensack Meadowlands to the west portal of the tunnels under Bergen Hill
    Bergen Hill
    Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, USA, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson River, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet.-Rail:...

     in the Palisades.
  2. North River Division. The North River Division ran from the west portal of the tunnels to Manhattan. The PRR ultimately decided to build a pair of single-track
    Single track (rail)
    A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....

     tunnels under the river, called the North River Tunnels, between Weehawken
    Weehawken, New Jersey
    Weehawken is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 12,554.-Geography:Weehawken is part of the New York metropolitan area...

     and mid-town Manhattan; the two tunnels continued seamlessly west from Weehawken to the west portals. In later years "North River Tunnels" came to refer to the whole length of tunnel from the Bergen Hill, or western, portal in North Bergen
    North Bergen, New Jersey
    North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...

     to 10th Ave in Manhattan. Construction began in 1904 and the tunnels opened in 1910. Penn Station in Manhattan was also completed in 1910 and service from New Jersey to Manhattan began on November 27, 1910.
  3. East River Division. The East River Division managed construction of tunnels running across Manhattan, and under the East River to a new coach yard in Queens
    Queens
    Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

    . The East River Tunnels
    East River Tunnels
    The East River Tunnels are 4 single-track railroad tunnels that extend from the eastern end of Pennsylvania Station under 32nd and 33rd Streets in Manhattan and cross the East River to Long Island City in Queens. The tracks carry Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak trains travelling to and from Penn...

     are four single-track tunnels that extend from the eastern end of Pennsylvania Station and cross the East River to Sunnyside Yard
    Sunnyside Yard
    Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City.-Description:The yard is owned by Amtrak and is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road Main Line and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor pass along the...

    . Construction proceeded concurrently with the North River tunnels, and the tunnels opened in 1910. LIRR service to Penn Station began on September 8, 1910.

Operation during the PRR era

The North River Tunnels carried PRR trains under the Hudson; for some years PRR electric engines also pulled Lehigh Valley Railroad
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...

 or Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 trains to New York. The East River Tunnels carried LIRR and (after 1917) New Haven
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States from 1872 to 1968 which served the states of Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts...

 trains, along with PRR trains to the Sunnyside Yard
Sunnyside Yard
Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City.-Description:The yard is owned by Amtrak and is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road Main Line and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor pass along the...

 in Queens. All trains were powered by DC third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...

 until the 1930s, the same third rail system that still powers LIRR trains. In New Jersey the third rail ended at Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer (PRR station)
Manhattan Transfer was a passenger station in Harrison, New Jersey, east of Newark, 8.8 miles west of New York Penn Station on the Pennsylvania Railroad main line, now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor...

, where all trains stopped to change between steam and electric engines.

Until 1961 some PRR suburban trains continued to serve the Exchange Place station, where passengers could board the PRR ferry or the Hudson Tube system (later called Port Authority Trans-Hudson
Port Authority Trans-Hudson
PATH, derived from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York City with Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey...

 or PATH) to downtown Manhattan. The PRR ended ferry service in 1949.

One branch existed, the freight-only Harrison Branch, splitting off the line just east of its west end and running west to a connection with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company was a railroad connecting Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley, rich in anthracite coal, to Hoboken, New Jersey, , Buffalo and Oswego, New York...

's Harrison Cut-off and the Erie Railroad
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...

's Paterson and Newark Branch.

Trackage rights

The following non-PRR railroads used the line:
  • Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
    Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
    The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

     during World War I
    World War I
    World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

     http://www.railfan.net/lists/rshsdepot-digest/200103/msg00000.html
  • Lehigh Valley Railroad
    Lehigh Valley Railroad
    The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...

  • New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
    New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
    The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States from 1872 to 1968 which served the states of Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts...


Operation by successor railroads

The PRR merged into Penn Central Transportation
Penn Central Transportation
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American railroad company that operated from 1968 until 1976. It was created by the merger on February 1, 1968, of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad...

 in 1968, and all the property of the PT&T was conveyed to Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 on April 1, 1976 when Conrail's system was formed. It is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...

; New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...

 and the Long Island Rail Road use their respective halves to reach New York Penn Station.

See also

  • Access to the Region's Core - cancelled project
  • Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel
    Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel
    The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel is a proposed freight rail transport tunnel under Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey between northeastern New Jersey and Long Island, including southern and eastern New York City.-Background:Direct connections for rail freight between Long Island...

     - proposed project
  • Gateway Project
    Gateway Project
    The Gateway Project is a proposed American rail expansion project to build a high-speed rail right-of-way and to alleviate the bottleneck along the Northeast Corridor between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City...

     - current project
  • New York Connecting Railroad
    New York Connecting Railroad
    The New York Connecting Railroad or NYCR is a rail line in the borough of Queens in New York City. It links New York City and Long Island by rail directly to the North American mainland. Amtrak, CSX, Canadian Pacific Railway, Providence and Worcester Railroad and New York and Atlantic Railway...

    - follow-up project completed in 1917
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